📝 [As of August 17, 2025] Why Automatic Translation No Longer Works in TranslatePress Free – and What You Can Do Instead

👀 Who this article is for

Have you ever experienced this?

“I installed TranslatePress, set up my languages, got a Google Translate API key… but I can’t enable automatic translation!”
“The ‘Automatic Translation’ tab is there, but I can’t click it. Is it a bug? Is it just me?”

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. This article is for anyone who’s currently struggling with TranslatePress not allowing automatic translation even after setting everything up properly.

Based on real-world testing as of August 17, 2025, we’ll walk you through the issue, what we found, and the best alternative plugins that actually work today.

✅ TL;DR (as of August 17, 2025)

It seems that using the Google Translate API for automatic translation is no longer realistically possible with the free version of TranslatePress.

• The Automatic Translation tab appears, but it is disabled — unclickable in the UI
• This happens even after setting your site languages and saving settings
• Rolling back to older versions like 2.9.18 or 2.9.20 doesn’t resolve the issue
• API key entry is no longer accessible, meaning free users can’t connect external translation APIs

🔍 Why this may be happening

We suspect several reasons for this silent change in functionality:

1. TranslatePress is gradually phasing out free access to API-based translation
2. The massive rise in AI-generated translation content is increasing server/API loads
3. TranslatePress may be shifting focus to its own AI or paid translation tools
4. There could be licensing or cost-related pressure from providers like Google and DeepL

🧪 Step-by-step: What we tested

✅ TranslatePress 2.9.22 (latest)

• Set source and destination languages (e.g., Japanese → English)
• Saved settings
• But… the Automatic Translation tab was still greyed out, and could not be opened

✅ TranslatePress 2.9.18 (rollback test)

• Downloaded version 2.9.18 via WordPress SVN and manually installed it
• Cleared cache, reconfigured languages
• Still no access to the Automatic Translation tab

✅ TranslatePress 2.9.20 (additional test)

• Tried in a separate environment
• Same result: tab visible, but completely disabled

✅ Other things we ruled out

• Cleared all previous Pro version settings
• Ensured no plugin conflicts or permission issues
• No difference across browsers or themes

🧩 Part 2: Practical alternatives for automatic translation in WordPress

TranslatePress free version is no longer a reliable option for Google Translate API use.
But don’t worry—there are working alternatives that let you set up automatic translation quickly and even for free (depending on needs).

🔝 Plugin comparison (as of 2025)

🔰 Best for free users: GTranslate

• No API key required
• Instantly translates all pages via Google Translate widget
• Just install and it works
• ❌ No SEO indexing
• ❌ You can’t edit the translation
• ✅ But it’s great for testing or non-commercial use

💼 Best for SEO + professional sites: Weglot or ConveyThis

Both offer:

• SEO support (translated pages are indexable)
• Translation editor
• URL structure support (/en/, /fr/, etc.)

Weglot has a sleek dashboard and integrations
ConveyThis offers similar features at a slightly more affordable rate

✅ Summary

✍️ Why this article matters

Many older tutorials still say TranslatePress lets you set up Google Translate for free.
But as of 2025, that is no longer the case—and there’s little official documentation explaining this change.

Hopefully, this hands-on report helps save you hours of frustration.
If you’re facing the same wall, don’t worry: there are modern solutions that still work, and work well.